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EGYPT |
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Success story |
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Language skills and cultural affinity: Germany’s SQS Group firmly counts on Egypt |
'Intelligent task-sharing between the client and outsourcing partner is a key component of all successful offshoring deals. Therefore, the fit between the two has to be right. Egypt has been the first choice for SQS Software Quality Systems in this respect since early 2008. The country has now created a small ‘Silicon Valley’ in Cairo for IT service providers, helping it to become one of the top ten offshore countries for IT services. This is thanks in part to the local IT personnel – in addition to Arabic and English, many of the young experts in Egypt achieve almost native command of another European language, usually German or French. While our company’s offshoring centres in South Africa and India principally deal with Anglo-Saxon and international customers, the focus of the services performed in Cairo is on domestic companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Besides the language skills, the cultural affinity and time difference of just one hour also contribute to the close fit between SQS Egypt and its customers.
The SQS subsidiary in Cairo has experienced a successful and rapid start. By the end of its first business year in 2008, employee numbers had risen to 51, and in April 2009, this had increased to over 70. SQS is planning to increase this figure to approximately 100 by the end of 2009 in response to growing customer demand.Customers whose software systems are currently being tested by a mix of onsite personnel and the team in Cairo include banks, insurance firms, aircraft manufacturers and telecommunications companies. It is SQS’s intention to build on this know-how while investing in the industry expertise of its employees and infrastructure. To this end, in April 2009, SQS opened the ‘Quality Tower’, a new office complex in close proximity to the Egyptian IT and technology park.
The involvement in Egypt is part of SQS’s policy of offering its customers mixed onsite/offshore models of the highest quality. Therefore, in keeping with this policy, the company is planning to increase its presence locally in Europe and offshore. Future expansion is also on the cards for the software testing services market as a whole. With offshore testing playing an increasingly prominent role, SQS expects its resources in Cairo to play a key part in contributing to its growth.'
Rudolf van Megen
Chief Executive Officer SQS Software Quality Systems
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The Dutch Heineken company brews 100 million litres of malted drinks every year |
Al Ahram Beverage, created in 1897 and privatised in 1997, employed nearly 4,000 people and had a turnover of 105 million dollars. It is still nowadays the market leader in beer (Al-Ahram’s Stella and Al Gouna’s Sakkara brands) and alcohol-free malted drinks. The group also commands strong positions on the wine market, on distilled beverages and certain soft drinks. The constitution of a serious challenger, EIBCO, by local investors, in October 2005, with the ambition of offering a similar product under its brand for each of ABC’s references, has quite stimulated competition in a local market little fought for until then.
For the Netherlands group, this new acquisition completed its development in the Arab world (a site in Lebanon with the Almaza brewery and in Morocco), and marked its return to Egypt, forty years after having pulled out of the country. The « Green Giant » has acquired a new place as leader in the main Arab-Muslim market and would especially like to develop the Fayrouz brand (alcohol-free beer) in other countries in the region, as well as in Africa.
Heineken is also counting upon this acquisition to substitute its own brands for those produced locally by ABC for the account of Carlsberg or Löwenbrau. The objective: to supply the tourist areas of the country and the Western consumer.
For ABC, which kept its name, its brands and its directors, the arrival of the international group provided it with new commercial capabilities at a moment when the market is developing strongly but when the sources of finance are rare, especially because of the poor image of the alcohol sector in any Muslim country. |
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